The Boat Race: every Easter weekend, rowers from Oxford and Cambridge universities take to boats and race each other down a stretch of the river Thames in London. It’s been taking place every year for I don’t know how long… centuries???!!!

It’s a British cultural phenomenon to which I have to confess I have a deep ambivalence. I really don’t understand why the country as a whole is supposed to be interested enough in this regional sporting event to have it on national television, and covered in the national news.

Anyway, whenever I hear about it, I remember my grandfather, Stan Cooper, would always insist on watching the boat race on telly, every year, making it a priority for the whole family if we were visiting them or they were visiting us. I remember being somewhat nonplussed about having to stay in as a family rather than getting out and enjoying the Spring sunshine.

This is a print of his, of a French river scene: